Couplet Examples

Couplets are easy to come by for the poetry lover, because he or she is familiar with the use and placement of literary devices. For those who are not as involved with literature, breaking the word down helps to uncover the meaning.

See the word couple in "couplet?" That is at least part of what a couplet is: a couple of lines. However, to the untrained eye, distinguishing a couplet from merely a couple of lines can be difficult.

Couplets generally appear in poetry, and quite frequently they rhyme and have the same meter. The two lines often belong together, and share some sort of similar idea.

Couplets in Shakespeare

Perhaps the best place to start when looking for couplets is with the famous couplets from Shakespeare. He often ended his sonnets with a rhyming couplet that summed up the main ideas of the poem.

Some examples of couplets in the endings of his sonnets are:

• "Blessed are you whose worthiness gives scope,/Being had, to triumph; being lacked, to hope."
• "So, till the judgement that yourself arise,/You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes."
• "Tir'd with all these, from these would I be gone,/Save that, to die, I leave my love alone."
• "You still shall live, such virtue hath my pen,/Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men."
• "How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow,/If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show!"

Even without having read the rest of these sonnets, a reader can make some educated guesses about the content of the poem based on the couplets alone.

Couplets in Alexander Pope

Shakespeare isn't the only writer from a bygone era who embraced the use of the couplet. Alexander Pope, a writer who lived from 1688-1744 was an English poet who wrote satirical verse… and who used a lot of couplets.

Here are some examples from his works:

• "A little learning is a dangerous thing;/Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring."
• "Be not the first by whom the new are tried,/Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."

• "Be thou the first true merit to befriend;/His praise is lost, who stays till all commend."
• "Good nature and good sense must ever join;/To err is human, to forgive, divine."
• "Hope springs eternal in the human breast:/Man never is, but always to be blest."         

• "’Tis education forms the common mind,/Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined."         

Couplets in Literature

There are plenty of other couplets in literature as well. Take this classic example from the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer:

Singing he was, or fluting all the day;/He was as fresh as is the month of May.

Some modern poets and writers use couplets as well. For instance, Shel Silverstein, a writer of poems for children, included some great examples of couplets:

• I have the measles and the mumps,/ a gash, a rash and purple bumps.
• You say today is...Saturday?/G'bye, I'm going out to play!

Couplets in Famous Quotes

Although there are an innumerable amount of couplet examples floating around in the world of literature, here are a few more to further expound upon the idea of what a couplet truly is:

• "Whether or not we find what we are seeking/is idle, biologically speaking." - Edna Saint Vincent Millay
• "True wit is nature to advantage distressed/What oft was thought/but ne'er so well expressed." - Eve King
• "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall/Humpty Dumpty had a great fall/All the king's horses and all the king's men/Couldn't put Humpty together again!" - Famous nursery rhyme
• "So precious are true friends who lend their ears/and give their time to wipe away sad tears." - Joy Saunders
• "….. Nodding perfume. In my garden birds sing,/Roses bloom, and I am remembering." - Josie Falla
• "When Silly Sally irons her clothes, they come out looking awful./She did not read the label and her iron was meant to waffle." - Denise Rodgers
• "Oh my!" the portly gent called out. "I cannot find my hair./I washed and put it out to dry, and now it isn't there!" - Denise Rodgers

Once again, even without knowing the rest of the works or anything at all about the authors, determing at least partially what the poem may be about is not extremely difficult after reading the couplets.

Purpose of the Couplet

The couplet form is a popular device in poetry. The main purpose is to make a poignant point that leaves a lasting impression with the reading. Through the use of rhyme and rhythm in the couplets, that effect is generally achieved. However, Alexander Pope parodied the form when he wrote:

"Where-e'er you find 'the cooling western breeze,'/In the next line, it 'whispers through the trees;'/In crystal streams 'with pleasing murmurs creep,'/The readers threatened (not in vain) with 'sleep.'"

He is poking fun at his contemporaries for overusing the couplet. Like any literary device, if the couplet is used too frequently, it loses its effect and becomes mind numbering rather than thought provoking.